I'm ashamed to admit that as of this moment of writing, I have not touched a crochet hook in weeks. Apart from teaching crochet classes, I don't seem to be able to draw up any sort of creativity when it comes to crocheting new things.
How many of you guys are like that too, going months in a creative block? Maybe its time to improve my skills are a crochet artist and head back to the School of Youtube-Crochet!
Covid-19 has changed such a huge part of how I process my work creatively. I think that I'm finally forced to acknowledge that the lack of prominent art markets and pop-ups happening around the country carries a larger percentage of blame than I care to admit.
In the past, a huge part of the creative process for me was being able to gauge the audience's reaction to my work. After all, these items that I make are mostly for the consumer, and having a physical reaction to my works helps a great deal in grounding me in my work. Good reactions and I think 'Perfect, now how do I make it better?'. A bad reaction, or worse NO reactions and I think 'What am I not doing right and how can I improve?' Either way, it's a sort of "check-in" if you will.
A year of not having these reactions has started to make me feel like I'm working in a bubble, a self-contained, self-directed bubble, and it's getting increasingly difficult to allow myself these "check-ins" that are so so so important for my creative process. I crochet for myself (if I do at all), and when I do, I criticise everything from the yarn choice to my stitch pattern.
To me, a crochet handphone case is not just a handphone case for the sake of it. What propels me to strive for perfection in my work is the thought that this crochet object, stitched into existence by sheer skill and will alone, will sooner become an invaluable part of someone's life. And as a designer, I need to show the work that amount of respect it deserves.
Perhaps I'm being overly idealistic (Art School has indeed taught me that I am) because an online e-commerce way of working (thanks, Covid) does nothing good for my art-soul. I find it extremely difficult being forced to pivot into technology to showcase my art. That feels so.....de-art-ifying. A wide and dynamic range of customers now reduced to a long list of alphabet and numbers.
So now on to bigger question... how to deal with Covid creative blocks...? Maybe I need to find a hobby that isn't my crochet day-job. Or maybe we all just need a system that allows me to crochet endlessly and put it through a machine that will deliver it to the person most in need of it directly and immediately. Oh what a dream that will be!